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I don’t know, if the main idea is pleasure I would stay in one place. But if it is business so to speak you might as well cover both areas. If you get to liberia in the afternoon you can certainly drive to Nosara the same day and get a nice early start to Jaco and be in your hotel late afternoon the day you leave Nosara. But I would stay in Playa Hermosa not Jaco, check out http://www.casapuravida.com for nice rooms and great hosts ask for the owls nest. Costa Nera is nice as well but a little more Rustic or there are a couple of bigger resorty type places as well. Maybe we’ll see you there we usually go for most of December.
You are probaly better off taking the pan american highway down to Jaco from Nosara via (new) Tempesque bridge. This should take about 5 hours on good paved roads, except for the drive from Nosara to Samara. You could drive the coast route that time of the year which is very scenic to the ferry which would take you to Punterenas, but the fery can be an ordeal. I’ve done both and enjoyed the ride down the coast but we stayed over in Mal Pais a few days before moving on.You would need a 4×4 for the coast route and it is recomended to have some sort of 4×4 in Nosara.
I do qualify here , just don’t own a home so I can not access a second mortgage/line of credit. Sounds like asking a relative with a lot of equity here may be the best way to go for us. I wonder how not having access to a good source of financing will effect the C.R. real estate markets growth potential? Lots of cheap money in the U.S. currently as well as home equity…not predicting any dooms day scenario; just thinking out loud.
That’s why we bought with our “hearts” not so much with our heads. Life is too short and unpredictable to always be worrying about the bottom line. I would not make an investment with a 10 or 20 year horizon simply because the x factor is to big. How many people spend there whole life working and saving for some future event and then drop dead. The present moment is what counts, is whats real. I don’t want to die with a multi-million dollar portfolio of any kind anyway most of us will never have this type of wealth. I’m not advocating reckless behavior just the opposite. Maybe to many people are just chasing a potential financial gain but for some the sunsets will always be spectacular and the waves will continue to break perfectly and we simply will not care what condos are selling for in Jaco. This is a fool proof investment strategy, all others proceed with caution. It seem that international real estate investment/speculation should be reserved for a small part of your portfolio. Buying your dream home is not quantifiable…
This is true…In a building called “The Grabbler” at 48 Laight Street in Tribeca. And you get a lovely view of the trafic circle leading to the holland tunnel. Crazy, how ever things are starting to cool off a bit, that said prices are still about $1000 per sqrft. and in some of the new developments upwards of $1400 sqrft.!! You should have bought and held Scott you would be a rich…um Richer man…lol! All things are relative, he bought about 2 years ago “pre constuction” and by the time he closed it had almost doubled. We actually had to fight for the parking spot, it helped that he was a cast member of the sitcom friends…and no I can not tell you who!! Although I know Scott does’nt watch tv anyway.
I hope appossek does’nt live near me (NYC) I just sold a condo here unfinished for $1.8k and the parking space was an additional $180K! One thing I know for certain you are not even going to get a studio condo for anywhere near $120k in the states near the ocean…I’m no big fan of Jaco but compared to just about anywhere in the states it is cheap!! Just avoid the tourist trap restaurants (where the food stinks)!everthing else is reasonable. These Concasa condos may not be for everyone but based on what I have seen in the area over the last few years this is a great way to get into a luxury condo at a rock bottom price. If you are in this for the mid to long term I don’t see how you can go wrong? Costa Rica is in it’s infancy of development as a big tourist destination whether you like it or not.But buy because it’s a beautiful country with lots to offer not just your bank account but your spirit and that kind of investment is immune to market fluctuations and will never diminish.
I spent six weeks there about a year and a half ago(Nosara) and yes it is beautiful. A nice break which can get sizable but easy to ride, my favorite break was Playa Guiones. The area is very spread out with homes near the beach and up in the hills. There is a large expat community that runs some great restaurants and inns such as Lagarta lodge, che olivier and La Dolce Vida to name a few. There is a long bumpy dirt road that gets you into Nosara after you leave the paved road near Samara which can be pretty impassable without a 4×4 at times. In the dry season its hot and dusty and brown!!! Real estate is very expensive with most houses starting at $250k and up into the millions, 500m2 lots seem to be about $100k. We loved it there and had rented a nice three bedroom house from http://www.nosarabeachrentals.com Two women run this and were great to deal with. I had a medical emergency and needed to get to a hospital at 12am, no doctors in Nosara and had to be driven the 2 hour ride to the caja hospital in Nicoya, just something to consider? If you are looking for something affordable here you missed it by about 10 years or so. I really prefer the central pacific overall (Play Hermosa area), Quepos is not a real pretty area and nearby Manuel Antonio is big bucks. Check out the area say from Jaco to Bejuco you can find some affordable deals still and are only 1.5 to 2 hours from San Jose and have access to good medical, shopping… as well as a beautiful area, great consistent surf, an hour up into the coolness of the mountains, good fishing, golf etc…
Edited on May 02, 2006 20:43
It can get a bit addictive!! I now have three completed homes with cars, trees and shrubs!! But seriously it is a usefull tool, someone recomended I buy it but it was pretty pricey, so this is great to get it for free.
Be very careful with a rental from an unknown agency and when you get your price make sure it includes the mandatory insurance as well. If they offer “full coverage” get all the details on cost and just what it covers. We have rented a larger suv from dollar and sometimes we take the full coverage(then you have nothing to worry about!) but it is quite pricey. You can also rely on your credit card if they offer collision when you reserve and pay for the rental. I have spoken to Visa and they assure me they would pay out quickly if I had an accident and provided all the required documents. However if you have damage to your car that is not covered by the basic insurance that you are required to have, your credit card will be charged for the cost of repairs and you will then seek reimburstment from your credit card company.Also check all the details of the insurance your card provides because there are exclusions including no coverage if an accident occurs on a dirt or gravel road!!! And there are a few of those down here…
I know this has been well documented in this forum the “gates that lead to nothing” but empty promises,but those in the know will agree that the real estate situation has really changed over the last 2-3 years especially in and around Jaco!. Unless the people behind some of these huge land project that are being heavily marketed are just absolute crooks out to cut and run with our money (personally I don’t think so) we will see less in completed projects, especially in prime areas along the coast. Remember as long as you can document that the people selling you the land own it there is a reasonably good chance they will follow through and do what they set out to do…why wouldn’t they if they have sold millions of dollars worth of land and they want a future in Costa Rica? In projects where you are just buying land as long as the utilities do get put in, then it is up to the lot owners to follow through and actually build there homes and I think in areas like the central pacific where real estate is red hot, a lot of the folks buying land will follow through and build. In Columbus heights where I have a contract on a lot I absolutely plan on building and based on my conversations with the architects and builders associated with the project so are a lot of others, which has lead me to have to find my own builder and architect so I can build on my schedule. If you are dealing with someone with no presence in the country and only marketing over the internet asking you to wire money to them directly….perhaps not a good idea? But if a reputable law firm is involved, stuart title or another reputable title agency and the company has a presence in the country and the property is owned by them and it is in a desirable location that is a good start. I took a leap of faith and bought in one of the controversial developments early on. I was familiar with the area from years of travel there, spoke with all the parties involved and felt comfortable with the people I was dealing with. I think I might be a little more concerned buying pre construction condos as this certainly requires a lot more money and expertise than just sub dividing land although I am considering one of the Jaco condo projects(endorsed here) strictly as a speculative purchase. So Scott I hope to be able to send you pictures of my new beach home in about 6-8 months!! This is not and endorsement of any of these projects, just my thoughts on them…
I just checked the Taca site, I found two r/t tickets non stop from jfk/NYC for about$914 for both and that includes all taxes. Not to bad non stop from my area. All this talk of pricey tickets had me nervous!
I guess I meant quaint as in small, although you could probaly substitute Jaco for Parrita in this article. Statistics can be a bit frightening and one must be objective when anylising them. I have walked through Paritta a number of times over the years and was not “held up” or felt threatened. Even while in the hospital in Nicoya as I waited for treatment the addicts rolled in for there methodone. I don’t think anyone would argue about the destuctive nature poverty and drugs has on society and it certainly can create a viscious circle if the actual problems are’nt addressed. Unfortunatley most poor addicts are treated as criminals and rarely get the help they need.
check http://www.american-european.net there is an organic farm section in there forum…
For the Villa Caletas lovers also check out http://www.xandari.com also really beautiful and a good restaurant that serves a lot of organic food grown on there farm.
